More Information

Building Family, School and Community Partnerships

Goal

Build family, school and community partnerships in an effort to prevent students from dropping out of school.

Summary

Schools are one part in a larger social system that includes families and communities, which are equally responsible for the development of youth. School-community partnerships, or collaborations, are more than just informal links. An effective collaboration is a formal agreement among participants to establish an autonomous structure to accomplish goals that would be difficult to achieve by any of the participants alone. The collaboration requires infrastructure that ensures participants ability to accomplish a shared vision and meet a set of goals.

Establishing long-term collaborations includes commitment, vision, cohesive policy, and systematic changes to develop formal and institutionalized sharing of a wider range of resources.

Strong school, family, and community collaboration is a key strategy for efforts to generate essential interventions to address barriers to learning, enhance healthy development, and strengthen communities.

Parent Engagement and Planning for Postsecondary Success

Parent Engagement Specialists and School Counselors work with parents and Family Liaisons in secondary schools to implement a program that informs parents and students about the plethora of educational opportunities available for linguistically and culturally diverse, and high needs students.

Resources

The State Advisory Council for Parent Involvement in Education (SACPIE) and the Colorado Department of Education are pleased to share a new family-school partnership brochure. This resource includes family partnership research, an explanation of the National Standards for Family-School Partnerships, and practical tips for how families, educators, and community members can collaborate for student success. The brochure is available in English and Spanish for anyone interested to copy and distribute.

A convenient and affordable pathway for at-risk adult students to complete their baccalaureate degrees by transferring to Colorado State University Global Campus with planning and support through preparation of individual career and academic plans (ICAPs), intensive services provided by career and college navigators, and degree program tracking.